In 2011, David Willetts issued a White Paper with the title "Students at the Heart of the System". In 2011 the headlines were, inevitably, about the new tuition fee regime which, it was hoped, would change the thinking of university leaders so that they focussed less on research excellence and more on the needs and aspirations of students. After seven years leading the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), and listening to the real fears and hopes of potential and current students, Mary Curnock Cook asks whether this objective has been achieved and argues that there is a long way to go before great universities are truly oriented culturally and organisationally to their student customers.